East Haven Chief Says Almost Half Of Police Recruits Have Left Department

EAST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) _ East Haven’s police chief says something must be done to stop town police recruits from bolting to other departments.

Chief Brent Larrabee says 26 of his officers on a 53-person force have left during his two years on the job.

Larrabee told local police commissioners this week that officials must stop a pattern of new recruits completing training on the city’s dime and immediately transferring elsewhere, according to a report in the New Haven Register (http://bit.ly/1iOOUJy ).

It costs a city about $100,000 to train a police recruit, he said.

He blames a 2011 state law that repealed a requirement that police recruits serve the municipality that paid for their training for at least two years. Many of East Haven’s recent recruits have no ties to the community.

“It’s not hard to understand why they jump ship,” he said.

Police Commissioner Paul Constantinople goes even further. He thinks some recruits may have made agreements with other communities to have East Haven pay for their training with the eventual promise of a job in the future.

East Haven police have dealt with several controversies in recent years, including the convictions of four white officers charged in a federal investigation of mistreatment of Latinos.

The chief is talking to town labor attorney Frank Kolb about having recruits sign a pre-employment contract guaranteeing that they stay in town for three years. Otherwise they have to repay the city a certain amount.
He said the town could also go after other communities the poach officers in court, although he admits he doesn’t know if there’s a legal basis for that option.
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Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com